Study Reaffirms Diet`s Role In A Healthy Heart

January 10, 1986|By Jon Van, Science writer.

New evidence suggesting that good diet and exercise habits can postpone heart attacks, even in men with a family history of early death, is published in the latest Journal of the American Medical Association.

The Journal, in its Friday edition, also reported that toxic shock syndrome, the sometimes fatal infection associated with tampon use, may be fostered by use of contraceptive sponges as well.

The heart study was reported by Dr. Roger Williams and colleagues from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, where long-term studies are underway of coronary health histories of families including several generations.

Researchers have identified family lines in which average blood cholesterol levels are 60 percent higher than the average for the U.S. population. In these families, the average male had his first heart attack at age 42 and died of coronary disease by 45.

Of special interest to the researchers, however, was identification of four males, all born before 1880, who were known to carry the gene responsible for fatal heart disease but who all lived to normal old age.

The four men survived to the ages of 62, 68, 72 and 81. It is known that none smoked and that all engaged in physically demanding work such as farming, carpentry and masonry. It may be that their simple diets also helped protect the men against an early death from heart disease, the researchers speculated. Researchers noted that at least one man in a Utah family at high risk for coronary disease has dramatically altered his personal risk through diet after physicians counseled him. By eating a strict low-fat diet, the man has reduced his serum cholesterol level by more than 70 percent, bringing it close to the national average for males.

In another Journal study, Dr. Gerald Faich of the federal Food and Drug Administration and colleagues reported 13 confirmed cases of toxic shock syndrome related to use of vaginal contraceptive sponges. The syndrome, caused by the Staphylococcus aureus bacterium, caused all 13 women to be hospitalized but didn`t result in any deaths.

The researchers estimated that women using contraceptive sponges may run a risk of toxic shock syndrome that is 8 to 40 times greater than the risk for nonusers. They suggested that women using the sponges adhere strictly to manufacturers` instructions, which limit continuous use to less than 30 hours and caution against wearing the sponge during menstruation.